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Oracle Firewise
Summer rains could bring us real pain this fall and winter.
“We’ve had a great summer monsoon season,” observed Larry Southard, Oracle Fire Chief, “but all that rain brought with it a ticking time bomb–an unusually large crop of high grasses and low brush.”
“Traditionally,” Chief Southard continued, “the height of our severe fire season has occurred between the months of March and June, although in the Tri-Communities area, we consider all twelve months of the year as a potential fire season. What makes this year quite different is the excessive build-up of grasses and brush in town and in the surrounding countryside which will quickly dry and brown-up this fall and become the perfect fuel for a hot and fast moving wildland fire.”
“The result,” Southard said, “is that, this year, we face a severe fire threat right through the winter months. I urge all property owners to get their mowers, weed-wackers, pruning shears and chain saws going to eliminate standing grass, brush and low lying tree branches from around their homes and out- buildings. We recommend at least a 30-foot clearing around buildings and the more, the better.
Let’s put a damper on now what could be a severe fire season in the weeks and months ahead.”
For more information go to: www.oraclefire.org.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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